Teaching

RECENT COURSES

Contemporary Native American Literature

We explore here a selection of Native American novels, beginning with N. Scott Momaday’s House Made of Dawn (1968).

Contemporary American Gothic

We explore here a selection of American Gothic novels, most of which were published during the last two decades, along with several films released during the same period. We will aim to define some of the distinctive features of the genre in relation to both its European and American lineage, and, more broadly, to map out the dark side of the American imaginary by focusing on a number of intersecting topics: the nation’s haunting legacy of racial oppression, the mutation of national mythologies of self-making, the freakish values of consumer and celebrity culture, and the emergence of the technologized ‘post-human’ subject.

An Introduction to Literary Study

This course offers an introduction to the study of literature. We will explore key aspects of narrative theory, and engage in a series of close readings – ranging widely across genres and time periods – of prose, poetry, and drama. Our primary goals will be to build up a working vocabulary of critical terms; develop effective strategies for close reading; hone writing skills, including those related to thesis development, argumentation, quotation, formatting, style, grammar, and research methods; and improve analytic techniques that can profitably be applied to other subjects. Our course tutorials will provide students with extensive opportunities for the practical application of lecture material.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

This course explores a selection of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s stories and novels. Our discussions will focus on Fitzgerald’s thematic preoccupations (above all, youth, wealth, dissipation), and their relationship to the broader socio-historical conditions in which he wrote, as we seek to clarify his genius as a chronicler of American promise and its betrayal. Class presentations will take two forms: brief appraisals of Fitzgerald’s life at specific moments, and longer analyses of individual works. Supplementary discussions (hosted on Moodle) will be devoted to cinematic adaptations of Fitzgerald’s oeuvre.